A little more than a year after the controversial V.I. Commission on Judicial Disabilities was essentially dissolved by a 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals ruling, the V.I. Supreme Court has announced a slew of appointments made this week to a similar disciplinary panel now under its purview.
The now defunct commission was established by the V.I. Legislature in 1976 and was vested with the authority to remove a judge from the bench for a felony conviction, or if the commission decided a judge had exercised willful misconduct in office, willful and persistent failure to perform judicial duties or brings the judiciary into disrepute.
The subsequent 3rd Circuit ruling, issued in July 2009, came after the commission began investigating complaints against former V.I. Superior Court Judge Leon Kendall, who, in October 2007, asked the District Court for an injunction barring members of the commission from conducting hearings that would ultimately remove him from the bench.
In January 2008, District Court Judge Curtis Gomez effectively dissolved the commission with a ruling saying that the territory’s Revised Organic Act of 1954 gives the V.I. Legislature no authority to remove judges or vest that authority in another body. The ruling was affirmed more than a year after in the 3rd Circuit, which left the territory without a disciplinary panel charged with handling judicial complaints.
The V.I. Supreme Court took up the issue with an order handed down last December, and on Tuesday, announced the appointments of nine members to the Commission on Judicial Conduct — a disciplinary body established through the a new court rule titled "V.I. Rules for Judicial Disciplinary Enforcement."
Rule 209, as it is otherwise referred to, became effective January 2010, and shall "remain in effect unless modified as a result of comments from the local bench, the public and the local bar," according to the order.
The new commission has purview over all Supreme Court justices, along with the judges and magistrates of the V.I. Superior Court, and is charged with handling "allegations of misconduct that may have occurred before or during service as a judge, and allegations of incapacity during service as a judge," the release said.
The commission also has jurisdiction over former judges and allegations of misconduct that occurred before or during their time on the bench if a complaint is filed within a year after they leave the court.
New members announced Tuesday are:
-attorney Treston Moore, appointed by Gov. John deJongh Jr. (term to expire on Aug. 1, 2014);
-Angel Morales, appointed by Gov. John deJongh Jr. as a public member of the commission (term to expire on Aug. 1, 2014);
-Superior Court Judge Julio Brady, appointed by Chief Supreme Court Justice Rhys S. Hodge as a judicial member of the commission (term to expire on Aug. 1, 2014);
-Superior Court Judge James S. Carroll III, appointed by Hodge as another judicial member of the commission (term to expire on Aug. 1, 2013);
-Superior Court Magistrate Judge Jessica Gallivan, appointed by Superior Court presiding Judge Darryl D. Donohue as a judicial member of the commission (term to expire on Aug. 1, 2012);
-attorney Emile Henderson III, appointed by Donohue as an attorney member of the commission (term to expire on Aug. 1, 2013);
-Sharmane Brooks and Gaylord Sprauve, appointed as public members of the commission by Senate President Louis P. Hill (terms to expire on Aug. 1, 2012 and Aug. 1, 2014, respectively); and
-attorney Andrew Capdeville, appointed as an attorney member of the commission by V.I. Bar Association President attorney Richard Evangelista (term to expire on Aug. 1, 2012).
